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MC teams have shot this year
Boys' basketball
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This could be the season in which both Centereach and Newfield turn around several years of basketball frustration. Both coaches, Ryan McNeely of Centereach and Newfield's Tony Agostino bring back experienced squads, and in a year where there is no clear favorite among the League III teams it appears to be a wide open race for the league crown. In fact, Agostino believes this year might be similar to three years ago when six of seven teams qualified for the postseason, including Centereach and Newfield.
The Cougars should be in a good position to improve this year. Centereach returns eight players including three starters from the 2008 team. "We were very young last year," said McNeely. "We made a lot of turnovers, but we defended well. We just had trouble scoring. This year we return experience and our offensive numbers should be better."
In fact, McNeely cites the team's mantra for the 2009-10 season is "2-19" meaning Feb. 19 which is the start of the Suffolk County playoffs. "We're excited about the season," McNeely said. "Last year we were so inexperienced and we made a lot of turnovers, more than 20 per game. This year we have experience and should keep the amount of turnovers to the low teens."
McNeely plans to run his offense through 6-1 senior guard Billy Garzon and 6-5 senior forward Cody Lohsen. "We want to get both of them on the same side of the court," McNeely said. "They are our two best scorers and we can go inside-out with them. Defensively, we will apply a full-court defense and a half-court man-to-man and show a zone once in a while. I think we are athletic enough to play a man-to-man especially in our league."
Also expected to make significant contributions will be 6-6 junior center James Tuccillo, senior point guard Mike Ferchland, 5-9 guard Bret DeRosa and 6-2 sophomore guard/forward Jesse Leverock.
The Cougars are loaded with some solid athletes. Perhaps this year their athleticism will translate into solid basketball performances. The Cougars open their season on Dec. 4 with a nonleague game at Rocky Point. Their first home game is Dec. 10 against Deer Park.
Newfield also returns a large group of players to the court. In fact, the Wolverines only lost one starter from last year's squad. "I expected more from the team last year," said Agostino, " but injuries hurt us. But our subs got a lot of minutes. This year we have the potential to do OK. With us it's about the maturity level. The talent is there. Last year we tended to panic when things didn't go well on the floor. This year the league could be anybody's and we could lose every game or we could win every game."
Players Agostino is counting on this year include 6-5 senior forward Jeren Hall who averaged 13 points per game and nine rebounds per game last year, and 6-1 senior forward Eddie Wenzel. Wenzel averaged just 5 points per game last year, is very versatile and can play every position on the court.
Also expected to be major contributors are senior guard and three-year starter Dylan McBride, 5-10 senior guard/small forward Maurice Hall and 5-10 senior guard Travis Simon.
"On offense we want to go, work the ball inside and establish an inside game fort," said Agostino. "Then we can leave open our shooters who can shoot from the outside. Defensively, we want to play a lot of man-to-man and more zone than usual. I think that we could be a playoff team, but we are going to have to wait and see. If we are cohesive we'll be good. I can only blame myself for us not making the playoffs."
The Wolverines begin their season Dec. 8 when they travel to Hauppauge. League play begins on Dec. 17 when Newfield hosts North Babylon.
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